The present invention relates to electrophoresis and relates in particular to a novel receptacle or apparatus for removing (eluting) and collecting charged particles of biological substances from gel slices in highly concentrated forms and with a bare minimum of undesirable liquid.
The procedure is referred to hereinafter as electroelution.
The present invention is an improvement over a copending application filed Nov. 5, 1984 by Peck et al. entitled Preparatory Electroelution Device bearing Ser. No. 668,571 both applications having a common Assignee.
The isolation of DNA, RNA, carbohydrates and proteins from electrophoresis gels has been a long standing problem. Several methods are available for recovering nucleic acids from acrylamide and agarose gels. These include (1) elution by diffusion, (2) extrusion by compression, (3) gel dissolution, and (4) electroelution. Most of these systems result in poor yield, degradation, contaminated end products, and are very cumbersome to operate. Electroelution is often the best method, although up to now, made difficult by the necessity for membranes, tube gels and related paraphernalia. In electroelution systems, the biologicals can stick to the membranes when dialysis tubing or membrane systems are used. A reverse current will partially release the material, but the process is not quantitative. Smaller fragments may pass through the membrane. Tube gels and related electrophoresis systems are cumbersome to operate.
The present invention provides an improved apparatus useful to carry out electroelution procedures in a manner which eliminates many of the difficulties encountered in prior art structures.
In the improved device an array of sample supports are provided facilitating the removal and collection of biological particles from a number of samples simultaneously.
Treatment of multiple samples simultaneously saves time of highly trained technical personnel and provides a series of results from a given family of samples in a very convenient fashion facilitating subsequent procedural steps.
Consequently it is a prime object of the present invention to provide an efficient electroelution device.
It is a further object to provide a device which is operative to recover and collect small particles or fragments of particles which would pass through and be lost in membrane arrangements of the prior art.
For example, the present invention is operable to concentrate masses of particles of the order of 10 to 20 micrograms in a liquid volume as small as 200 microliters.
A further feature of the invention is the provision of a novel electroelution receptacle structure which is accessable, convenient to operate, purge and keep clean.